


my legs are sore

by genesis_frog



Category: One Piece
Genre: Character Study, Childhood Trauma, Gen, POV Second Person, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Repetition, Run-On Sentences, Starvation, Trauma, probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 06:51:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11572665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genesis_frog/pseuds/genesis_frog
Summary: Your name is Sanji and you have never known what it is like to not run.





	my legs are sore

Your name is Sanji and you have never known what it is like to not run.

The memories of your early childhood are blood-stained shadows in your mind, they lurk and lurk and wait until nighttime to pounce, they are violet impressions of Vinsmoke fists against your flesh, they are looping taunts in your mind: pathetic, useless, stupid, wrong, wrong, wr on g, w r o n g

So you run from the shadows and end up on a ship, sailing away away far away thank GOD you never have to see your dad or your brothers ever again, but the ship sinks and a shitty old man saves you. You both starve, doomed to wasting away and away until there's nothing left but dust and sun-bleached bones (the Vinsmokes would enjoy this).

You wait for eons, for only a breath, for the span of millions of heartbeats for a rescue but you are trapped, and you wonder if this is not running anymore. (But of course the memories of the Vinsmokes aren't shadows yet, they are yesterday and the day before and the day before, the blood is still fresh, the bruises haven't yet faded, and you are still so afraid that you run from them in your mind.)

After eons, a breath, an eternity, you and the old man escape. His name is Zeff, and he's running too. He never says as much, but you can tell, although you never know where he's running to. He used to be a pirate, and now he'll be opening up a restaurant on the ocean, and he wants you to come with him, he acts like it's a great burden for him but he asked first (he didn't have to save you he didn't have to take you in he lost his leg for you you must repay him repay him repay him repay him) and you decide to repay your debt.

You spend nearly a decade growing up on the Baratie, and while it's the first home you've ever had where you felt safe, you're still running, you can't not be running when you live on a ship that travels the world. Over the years while you learn what "safe" means, you learn to put the shadows to rest, to shoo the ghosts away, to refuse to let them haunt you. The Vinsmokes can't find you here. You are in the East Blue, you are safe you are safe saf e s afe sa fe sa f e s a f e

Some stupid pirate breaks your home and then saves it, mostly. You don't like him at first, you have no reason to, but he doesn't laugh at your dream, the only hope you've ever had and the only one you've ever dared to hold onto, though you've given it up time and time again. Zeff, the old man, your old man, wants you to go and find it, and you run away from home, this time with "don't catch a cold" and love and love and love at your back.

Your name is Sanji and you are running.

You run to Loguetown, over Reverse Mountain and into the Grand Line. You run through Whiskey Peak, Little Garden, and dry Alabasta, you run to Jaya and to Skypiea and on and on and on. You run with this little group of friends, family?, and for the first time you're not running alone. A burden is lifted from your shoulders and you run and run and run and you feel nothing but joy because you are f r e e

You are ripped from that freedom and dumped onto an island of queer people, and you might say that you have never been so frightened or confused in your life but that's not true and you're a liar, liar, liar. They are nothing like your family but you run from them anyway, you run until your muscles scream in agony and then you run some more, you will never let yourself be caught or changed, you are Sanji of the Straw Hat Pirates, you are Sanji, you are Sanji, you are Sanji.

You run off their island and into the loving arms of your companions, your crew, and you are overjoyed to see each and every one of them but despite this happiness, still.

Your name is Sanji and you are still running.

**Author's Note:**

> The first line of this popped into my head and then I wrote this. Sanji is such a good character,,
> 
> Title is from "Marathon Runner" by Yellow Ostrich!


End file.
